Information distribution system and method for distributing content information

ABSTRACT

This invention provides an information distribution system comprising an image data processing device ( 11 ), a server ( 12 ), and a portable telephone unit ( 15  having image data acquisition means for acquiring image data with a destination address attached thereto and display means for displaying the image data, wherein the image data is distributed from the image data processing device ( 11 ) to the portable telephone unit ( 15 ), and advertisement information based on user information is extracted from an advertisement information storage unit ( 29 ) and appended to image/text data by an advertisement information appending unit ( 30 ) provided in the server  12.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an information distribution system and aninformation distribution method interlocked with an image datacommunication system, and also relates to an information providingdevice and an information providing method. Particularly, this inventionrelates to an information distribution system and an informationdistribution method which enable distribution of optimum contentinformation to users on the basis of registration contents for the useof an image data communication system, and also relates to aninformation providing device and method used in this informationdistribution system.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, distribution of content information such as images includingmotion images and still images, music and the like through acommunication network has been popularly used. For example, in an imagedistribution system for distributing image data as content information,an image processing server is prepared on a network, and it provides aservice of once uploading an image to this image processing server, thenautomatically converting the uploaded image to the data quantity and thenumber of colors that can be processed at a portable informationprocessing terminal, and downloading the converted image to the portableinformation processing terminal so that the converted image can be usedat the portable information processing terminal.

Interlocked with such a service, there exists an advertisementinformation distribution service for distributing advertisementinformation together with a content to be sent to a portable informationprocessing terminal.

In the conventional advertisement information distribution service,advertisement information of the same content is distributed to all theusers. The conventional advertisement information distribution servicehas a problem that useful information for each user cannot bedistributed. Moreover, since the advertisement information of the samecontent is distributed to all the users, users who receive unwantedadvertisement information might take the distribution of thisadvertisement information as a nuisance and complain to the serviceprovider.

Furthermore, in the conventional advertisement information service, theservice provider distributes advertisement information one-sidedly andtherefore the information is not shared by users.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing status of the art, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide an information distribution system and aninformation distribution method which enable distribution of usefulinformation for each user and sharing of specific information by users,and an information providing device and an information providing methodused in these information distribution system and informationdistribution method.

In order to achieve the foregoing object, an information distributionsystem according to the present invention comprises: an image dataprocessing terminal having display means for displaying image data, andimage data transmission means for transmitting the image data tooutside; an information providing device having image data saving meansfor saving the image data, and address information appending means forappending to the image data a destination address for referring to theimage data from outside; and a portable radio communication terminalhaving image data acquisition means for acquiring the image data withthe destination address appended thereto, and display means fordisplaying the image data; the information distribution system having animage data distribution function for distributing the image data fromthe image data processing terminal to the portable communicationterminal; wherein connection from the image data processing terminal isidentified using identification information issued at the time ofregistration, and optimum content information is extracted from contentinformation storage means on the basis of user information stored instorage means for storing the identification information and userinformation corresponding to the identification information and isattached to the image data, which is then transmitted.

An information distribution system according to the present inventioncomprises: a first information processing terminal having datatransmission/reception means for transmitting and receiving data; aninformation providing device having data saving means for saving thedata, and address information appending means for appending to the dataa destination address for referring to the data from outside; and asecond information processing terminal having data acquisition means foracquiring the data with the destination address appended thereto, anddisplay means for displaying the data; the information distributionsystem having an image data distribution function for distributing thedata from the first information processing terminal to the secondinformation processing terminal; wherein optimum content information isextracted from content information storage means on the basis of thecontent of information transmitted and received between individual usersand is attached to the image data, which is then transmitted.

An information distribution method according to the present inventioncomprises: a display step of displaying image data at an image dataprocessing terminal; an image data transmission step of transmitting theimage data to outside; an information providing step including an imagedata saving step of saving the image data, and an address informationappending step of appending to the image data a destination address forreferring to the image data from outside; an image data acquisition stepof acquiring the image data with the destination address appendedthereto at a portable radio communication terminal; and a display stepof displaying the image data; the information distribution method havingan image data distribution function for distributing the image data fromthe image data processing terminal to the portable communicationterminal; wherein connection from the image data processing terminal isidentified using identification information issued at the time ofregistration, and at a content information providing step, optimumcontent information is extracted on the basis of user information storedin storage means for storing the identification information and userinformation corresponding to the identification information and isattached to the image data, which is then transmitted.

An information distribution method according to the present inventioncomprises: a data transmission/reception step of transmitting data at afirst information processing terminal; an information providing stepincluding a data saving step of saving the data, and an addressinformation appending step of appending to the data a destinationaddress for referring to the data from outside; and a data acquisitionstep of acquiring the data with the destination address appended theretoat a second information processing terminal and a display step ofdisplaying the data; the information distribution method utilizing animage data distribution method for distributing the data from the firstinformation processing terminal to the second information processingterminal; wherein optimum content information is extracted from contentinformation storage means on the basis of the content of informationtransmitted and received between individual users and is attached to theimage data, which is then transmitted.

An information providing device according to the present inventioncomprises: image data transmission/reception means for transmitting andreceiving image data from an image data processing terminal through anetwork; image data saving means for saving the received image data;address information appending means for appending to the image data adestination address for referring to the image data from outside;storage means for storing user information; content information storingmeans for storing content information; and content information attachingmeans for attaching the content information to the image data on thebasis of the user information; wherein content information selected onthe basis of user information identifying the user is transmitted to theuser.

In the information providing device according to the present invention,connection from the image data processing terminal is identified usingidentification information issued at the time of registration, andoptimum content information is extracted on the basis of the userinformation stored in the storage means for storing the identificationinformation and the user information corresponding to the identificationinformation and is attached to the image data, which is thentransmitted.

An information providing method according to the present inventioncomprises: an image data transmission/reception step of transmitting andreceiving image data from an image data processing terminal through anetwork; an image data saving step of saving the received image data; anaddress information appending step of appending to the image data adestination address for referring to the image data from outside; astorage step of storing user information; and a content informationattaching step of attaching content information to the image data on thebasis of the user information; wherein content information selected onthe basis of user information identifying the user is transmitted to theuser.

In the information providing method, connection from the image dataprocessing terminal is identified using identification informationissued at the time of registration, and optimum content information isextracted on the basis of the user information stored in storage meansfor storing the identification information and the user informationcorresponding to the identification information and is attached to theimage data, which is then transmitted.

The other objects of the present invention and specific advantagesprovided by the present invention will be further clarified by thefollowing description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural view showing the schematic structure of aninformation distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 2 is a structural view for explaining the structure of a server inthe information distribution system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a structural view for explaining the structure of a Web dataconversion processing unit in the information distribution systemaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing to convert imagedata and a descriptive language contained in Web data in the informationdistribution system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining image data discriminationprocessing in the information distribution system according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining image data discriminationprocessing in the information distribution system according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining resizing processing in the imagedata discrimination processing of the information distribution systemaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining encoding processing in the imagedata discrimination processing of the information distribution systemaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view for explaining the structure of the serverin the information distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view for explaining the processing to appendadvertisement information in the information distribution systemaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an exemplary image data processing GUI screenof an image data processing device in the information distributionsystem to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 12 is a view showing an exemplary image data processing GUI screenof the image data processing device in the information distributionsystem to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 13 is a view showing an exemplary screen structure that istransmitted to a portable radio communication terminal at a destinationin the information distribution system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 14 is a view showing an exemplary screen structure that istransmitted to a portable radio communication terminal at a destinationin the information distribution system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 15 is a structural view showing the schematic structure of aninformation distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view for explaining the processing to appendadvertisement information in the information distribution systemaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the processing to edit image/textdata saved into a server from a portable telephone unit in theinformation distribution system according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a view showing an exemplary top page screen that istransmitted to a user's portable radio communication terminal in theinformation distribution system according to the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a view showing an exemplary authentication ID and passwordinput screen that is transmitted to a user's portable radiocommunication terminal in another exemplary information distributionsystem to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 20 is a view showing an exemplary error message screen structurethat is transmitted to a user's portable radio communication terminal inthe information distribution system according to the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a view showing an exemplary error message screen structurethat is transmitted to a user's portable radio communication terminal inthe information distribution system according to the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a view showing an exemplary error message screen structurethat is transmitted to a user's portable radio communication terminal inthe information distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 23 is a view showing an exemplary deposited image list displayscreen that is transmitted to a user's portable radio communicationterminal in still another exemplary information distribution system towhich the present invention is applied.

FIG. 24 is a view showing an exemplary image/text data screen selectedfrom a deposited image list display screen that is transmitted to auser's portable radio communication terminal in still another exemplaryinformation distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 25 is a view showing an exemplary editing screen that istransmitted to a user's portable radio communication terminal in stillanother exemplary information distribution system to which the presentinvention is applied.

FIG. 26 is a view showing an exemplary transmission destination displayscreen that is transmitted to a user's portable radio communicationterminal in still another exemplary information distribution system towhich the present invention is applied.

FIG. 27 is a view showing an exemplary transmission destinationnon-confirmation display screen that is transmitted to a user's portableradio communication terminal in still another exemplary informationdistribution system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 28 is a view showing an exemplary saving completion notificationscreen that is transmitted to a user's portable radio communicationterminal in still another exemplary information distribution system towhich the present invention is applied.

FIG. 29 is a view showing an exemplary mail preparation screen of auser's portable radio communication terminal in still another exemplaryinformation distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of explanation offunctions of an information distribution service in still anotherexemplary information distribution system to which the present inventionis applied.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of confirmation ofmachine type of an information distribution service in still anotherexemplary information distribution system to which the present inventionis applied.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of cancellation ofregistration of an information distribution service in still anotherexemplary information distribution system to which the present inventionis applied.

FIG. 33 is a view showing an exemplary screen structure that istransmitted to a user's portable radio communication terminal in stillanother exemplary information distribution system to which the presentinvention is applied.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An information distribution system according to the present invention isa system which enables distribution of image data to a distributionrecipient desired by a registered user by using an image datadistribution function that is made available by making registration foruse in advance. In the information distribution system to which thepresent invention is applied, data to be distributed is temporarilysaved as data of a standard format, and when a transmission request issent from a communication terminal at a distribution destination, thedata can be converted to an optimum image data format in accordance withthe communication terminal and then transmitted. Moreover, in thisinformation distribution system optimum content information can bedistributed to a user and an information distribution recipient desiredby the user, by using user registration information acquired when theuser made registration in advance.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to the drawings.

An information distribution system 1 to which the present invention isapplied has an image data processing device 11 having an image dataprocessing function and a communication function, a server 12 forstoring image data transmitted from the image data processing device 11,and a portable telephone base station 13 connected with a portabletelephone unit 15 through a portable telephone communication network 14,as shown in FIG. 1.

This is a system for distributing advertisement information using animage data distribution system in which the image data processing device11, the server 12 and the portable telephone base station 13constituting the information distribution system 1 according to thepresent invention are connected with each other through a wire network16.

The wire network 16 is the so-called Internet. The portable telephoneunit 15 is a portable telephone unit that can be connected to the wirenetwork 16 via the portable telephone base station 13.

The image data processing device 11 is, for example, a personal computercapable of performing various image processing on image data by usingsoftware-based processing or a hardware structure. The image dataprocessing device 11 can be connected with a digital image pickup device17 such as a digital video camera or a digital still camera by using ageneral-purpose interface and can receive image data captured by thedigital image pickup device 17. The image data processing device 11 alsohas driver units supporting a recording medium 18 a such as an opticaldisc-like recording medium, typically, a CD (compact disc) or a DVD(digital versatile disc), or a magnetic recording medium, typically, anFD (flexible disk), and a semiconductor storage device 18 b such as aflash memory (trademark registered) or a memory stick (trademarkregistered). The image data processing device 11 can read image dataalso from the recording medium 18 a or the semiconductor storage device18 b.

In the above-described example, image data is temporarily read into theimage data processing device 11. However, a system structure which doesnot include the image data processing device 11 is also possible. Inthis case, for example, a portable telephone unit is connected to thedigital image pickup device 17 and image data is directly transferred tothe portable telephone unit 15 at the distribution destination.Connecting the digital image pickup device 17 with the portabletelephone unit is an example of measures for connecting the digitalimage pickup device 17 to the wire network 16, and a fixed telephone orthe like may be used instead of the portable telephone unit.Alternatively, connection means to the wire network 16 may be providedin the digital image pickup device 17 itself. Moreover, the digitalimage pickup device 17 is not limited to a camera or a scanner and maybe a PDA (personal digital assistant) with a built-in CCD(charge-coupled device) camera, or a portable telephone unit with abuilt-in CCD camera.

The image data processing device 11 reads image data from the digitalimage pickup device 17, the recording medium 18 a or the semiconductorstorage device 18 b, and converts the image data to image data of astandard format. Conversion to image data of a standard format can becarried out using dedicated conversion software that is distributed by aprovider providing this information distribution system. Image data of astandard format is image data having a data quantity, an image data fileformat and the like that can be processed at the portable telephone unit15. The “standard format” in this case means “standard” in an image datadistribution system as a basis of the information distribution system ofthis specific example. In this specific example, in order to minimizedeterioration of image data and data loss, image data using a GIF(Graphics Interchange Format) file format of reversible compression andhaving a data quantity of 10 kilobytes or less is used.

In the information distribution system 1, since image data is convertedto a predetermined format in advance to limit the data quantity and thentransmitted to the server 12, the connection time is reduced whentransmitting the image to the server. Moreover, the capacity of theserver 12 can be saved.

However, with respect to the image data file format, the image size andthe data quantity to be employed for standard image data, variousoptions are possible, for example, conforming to the standard defined bythe majority of telephone companies, of plural telephone companiesproviding portable telephone services.

Using the image data processing device 11, a user converts desired imagedata to image data of the above-described standard format and preparestext data which the user wants to attach to the image data. The imagedata processing device 11 prepares image/text data including the imagedata and the text data, using the conversion software. The image/textdata is described, for example, as Web page data of the part/form-dataformat. This image/text data is transmitted to the server 12.

The server 12 is connected with an authentication server 19 for savingauthentication ID and password for authenticating whether or not aperson accessing the server 12 via the wire network 16 is a user who hasregistered for using the image data distribution system, and a userinformation database 20 in which user information of registered users isstored.

As a method for authenticating a user, for example, authentication. IDand password, issued in advance at the time of registration by theservice provider of the image data distribution system to a user whoregistered for service use, may be authenticated at the time of access.

As a method for user registration, for example, necessary items may beentered on a Web page sent from the server to a personal computer or thelike via the wire network 16, or the digital image pickup device 17 towhich an application form for user registration is attached may be sold.Alternatively, a user may apply for user registration by telephone ormailing an application postcard. When a user registers, user informationof the user who wants to be registered is acquired. As registration foruse is completed, authentication ID and password are sent to the userfrom the service provider, for example, by mail or facsimile.

The server 12 has the following units as shown in FIG. 2 a networkinterface unit (hereinafter referred to as network I/F unit) 21 forreceiving image data, authentication ID and password transmitted theretovia the wire network 16; a temporary memory 22 for temporarily savingthe received data; an authentication unit 23 for checking the receivedauthentication ID and password with authentication data saved in theauthentication server 19; an address appending unit 24 for appending, toimage/text data sent from a user, a URL (uniform resource locator) as adestination address indicating the storage position in a data storageunit 25; the data storage unit 25 for storing the image/text data; a Webdata management unit 26 for managing communication with the portabletelephone unit 15; a communication unit 27 for transmitting the URLindicating the saving location where the image data is stored, to adistribution destination designated by the user for distribution of theimage data; and a Web data conversion processing unit 28 for convertingWeb data to be transmitted, in accordance with the terminal at thedistribution destination. These units are integrally controlled by acontrol unit, not shown.

In this specific example, image/text data is converted to Web page dataof the multipart/form-data format by the image data processing device 11and then transmitted to and received by the server 12. Then, the Webpage data is converted to data of the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)format or the like.

However, the data format when data is stored in the data storage unit 25of the server 12 is not particularly limited. For example, data of themultipart/form-data format may be stored. Alternatively, image data andtext data of image/text data may be separated, and for the text data,for example, title data, text content data and the like can beseparately stored. In the case of separately storing data, when sendingthe data to the portable telephone unit 15 at the distributiondestination, the separate data are reassembled and then transmitted onthe basis of the data format such as the HTML format. Separately storingrespective data of image/text data is advantageous in that theefficiency of conversion processing in the case of conversion to anoptimum data format for the portable telephone unit of the distributiondestination is improved.

The Web data conversion processing unit 28 is specifically a CGI (commongateway interface) for using an external program in the server 12. Asshown in FIG. 3, the Web data conversion processing unit 28 has adescriptive language discrimination circuit 201 for discriminating thedescriptive language of Web data used by the portable telephone unit 15at the distribution destination, an image data discrimination circuit202 for discriminating the image data format of the portable telephoneunit 15 at the distribution destination, a terminal data table 203 inwhich the machine type of the terminal and the standard of image dataare stored as a table, and an image processing circuit 204 forperforming image processing corresponding to the results of thediscriminations by the descriptive language discrimination circuit 201and the image data discrimination circuit 202.

On receiving a text data request signal C1 from the portable telephoneunit 15, the descriptive language discrimination circuit 201 determinesthe communication service provider and the machine type of the terminalfrom this signal, then extracts a descriptive language corresponding tothe result of the discrimination from the terminal data table 203,converts text data to this format, and transmits a test data responsesignal C2. The descriptive language may be, for example, the HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) format or HDML (handheld Device MarkupLanguage) format or the like.

On receiving an image data request signal C3 from the portable telephoneunit 15, the image data discrimination circuit 202 determines thecommunication service provider and the machine type of the terminal fromthis signal, then extracts an image data format corresponding to theresult of the discrimination from the terminal data table 203, convertsimage data to this image data format, and transmits an image dataresponse signal C4. Here, the image data file, format such as GIF formator PNG format, the designated pixel size and the like are collectivelyreferred to as image data format.

In this specific example, image data from a user, which has already beenconverted to the standard of a predetermined communication serviceprovider A, that is, GIF format, with a data quantity of 10 kilobytes orless in the image data processing device 11 as described above, istransmitted and saved in the data storage unit 25

The processing to convert the image data and the descriptive languagecontained in the Web data of the Web data conversion processing unit 28will now be described with reference to FIG. 4. In this specificexample, it is assumed that there are three communication serviceproviders. A, B and C. The information distribution system 1discriminates the difference in standard between these threecommunication service providers, then converts image/text data tooptimum image/text data for each portable telephone unit, and transmitsthe optimum image/text data.

As the server 12 receives an access command (text data request signal)from a certain portable telephone unit, the Web data conversionprocessing unit 28 at step S1 discriminates the communication serviceprovider, as the processing within the server 12.

If the service provider is the provider A, the descriptive languagediscrimination circuit 201 at step S2 transmits Web data as data of theHTML format. If the service provider is the provider B, the descriptivelanguage discrimination circuit 201 at step S3 transmits Web data asdata of the HTML format. If the service provider is the provider C, thedescriptive language discrimination circuit 201 at step S4 transmits Webdata as data of the HDML format.

As the text data of the HTML or HDML format is transmitted to theportable telephone unit, the portable telephone unit at step S5 sends animage data request signal.

The image data discrimination circuit 202 of the Web data conversionprocessing unit 28 discriminates the communication service provider andthe machine type of the terminal (step S6). The image data is convertedto an image data format extracted from the supporting table stored inthe terminal data table 203 (step S7) and the converted image data isoutputted.

The above-described series of processing in the Web data conversionprocessing unit 28 may be executed using software. Alternatively, it canbe executed by the control unit of the server 12.

The discrimination of image data will be described further in detailwith reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. In the discrimination of the terminal atstep S1 of FIG. 4, if the portable telephone unit which transmitted anaccess command to the server 12 is of the provider B or the provider C,whether it is the provider B is discriminated at step S10 and whether itis the provider C is discriminated at step S11. If it is the provider Bor the provider C, the processing goes to step S12 and the image data ofthe GIF format, of the image/text data, is decoded. At step S13,resizing processing is carried out. The resizing processing will belater described in detail.

Next, in order to make the file size equal to or less than apredetermined file size, color reduction processing and PNG fileprocessing are carried out at steps S14 and S15. At step S16, whetherthe file size is not larger than the predetermined file size isdiscriminated. If the file size is not within the predetermined range,the steps S14 and S15 are repeated. If the file size of the image/textdata is within the predetermined range, the data is outputted to theportable telephone unit.

On the other hand, if it is determined at step S11 that the portabletelephone unit is conformable to none of the standards of the providersA, B and C, whether the standard of image data of this portabletelephone unit prescribes, for example, a file size of 4.3 kilobytes orless and a pixel size of 80×72 or less is discriminated at step S17. Ifit is conformable to these sizes, the image data format of the imagedata saved in the data storage unit 25 is left unmodified and the imagedata is outputted as it is at step S18. The standard of image dataprescribing a file size of 4.3 kilobytes or less and a pixel size of80×72 or less enables the image data to be displayed on any portabletelephone unit conformable to the standard of the provider A.

If it is determined at step S17 that the standard does not prescribe afile size of 4.3 kilobytes or less and a pixel size of 80×72 or less, itis discriminated at step S19 of FIG. 6 whether a possible display sizeon the portable telephone unit is 10 kilobytes and the file size of theimage data is 8.8 kilobytes or less and the pixel size is 120×108 orless. If these conditions are met, the image data format of the imagedata stored in the data storage unit 25 is left unmodified and the imagedata is outputted as it is at step S20.

If the conditions of the possible display size on the portable telephoneunit of 10 kilobytes, the file size of the image data of 8.8 kilobytesor less and the pixel size of 120×108 or less are not met, decoding fromthe GIF format is carried out at step S21, and resizing processing tosupport this image data is carried out at step S22. At step S23, theresized image data is encoded to the GIF format and then outputted.

FIG. 7 shows the above-described resizing processing. At step S30, theimage data discrimination circuit 202 extracts the image frame size ofimage data after resizing, from the terminal data table 203.

Next, at step S31, the aspect ratio of the image data is discriminated.If the aspect ratio is larger than 10:9 (horizontal:vertical), at stepS32, the vertical length of the image data is resized to the data sizedefined on the terminal data table 203. If the aspect ratio is smallerthan 10:9 (horizontal:vertical), the horizontal length of the image datais resized to the data size defined on the terminal data table 203. Theaspect ratio 10:9 (horizontal:vertical) of the image data in this caseis the aspect ratio of image data saved in the data storage unit 25.

FIG. 8 shows the encoding processing. In the encoding processing, first,the number of colors is discriminated at step S40. If the number ofcolors is two the processing goes to step S47 subsequent to “b”. If thenumber of colors is not two, whether or not the portable telephone unitis of a monochrome display type is discriminated at step S41. If theportable telephone unit is of a monochrome display type, the processinggoes to step S46, which will be described later.

If the portable telephone unit is not a monochromedisplay-type-terminal, color reduction processing of the image data iscarried out at step S42 and the image data is converted to the GIFformat at step S43.

At step S44, whether or not the file size is equal to or less than aprescribed size is discriminated. If the file size is equal to or lessthan the prescribed size, the processing returns to FIG. 6. If the filesize is larger than the prescribed size, whether or not the number ofcolors is equal to or less than eight is discriminated at step S45. Ifthe number of colors is not equal to or less than eight, the processingreturns to step S42 and the color reduction processing is carried out.If the number of colors is equal to or less than eight, the processinggoes to step S46 and monochrome binarization is carried out. Next, theimage data is converted to the GIF format at step S47 and the file sizeis confirmed at step S48. If the file size is equal to or less than aprescribed value, the processing returns to FIG. 6. If a file size equalto or less than the prescribed value cannot be obtained even afterexecuting the series of processing, error processing starts.

In the above-described information distribution system, image data isautomatically converted to an image data file format supporting theimage display standard of a portable telephone unit at a distributiondestination of the image data and then outputted thereto. Because thestandard of the image data format of the communication service providerA is adopted in this specification, as a standard image data formatsaved in the data storage unit 25, it may not be necessary to carry outimage data conversion processing with respect to portable telephoneunits which receive communication services from the provider A.Therefore, there is an advantage that the processing is simplified.

Conventionally, each communication service provider has poor datacompatibility and therefore sources must be provided for respectivecommunication service providers in accordance with data to bedistributed to a portable telephone unit. However, in the informationdistribution system 1, which has embodied the present invention, datacan be automatically converted to a data file format supporting theimage display standard of a portable telephone unit at a distributiondestination of the data and then outputted. Therefore, it suffices toprovide one source and the system is simplified, improving the advantagein cost of system design and system construction.

The information distribution system according to the present inventioncan provide common content information distribution services to portabletelephone units of different communication service providers, byemploying the terminal discrimination as described above.

Now, distribution of optimum content information to a registered userand a recipient desired by the user, using an information distributionsystem 2 as another specific example of the present invention, will bedescribed. In this specific example, content information is particularlyadvertisement information. In this case, advertisement information ascontent information includes image information including dynamic imagesand still images, audio information, character information and the like.That is, the following specific example is an advertisement informationdistribution system utilizing the information distribution system 1.

The information distribution system 2 in this example has a similarstructure to that of the information distribution system 1 shown inFIG. 1. Therefore, constituent elements having the same functions andeffects are denoted by the same numerals and will not be describedfurther in detail.

The information distribution system 2 is characterized in that anadvertisement information storage unit 29 for storing advertisementinformation and an advertisement information appending unit 30 forselecting and attaching advertisement information to image/text data areprovided in a server 12. However, in the structure of the server 12, theadvertisement information storage unit 29 need not be constituted as apart of the server 12. The position of the advertisement informationappending unit 30 is not particularly limited.

Specifically, when preparing a Web page containing advertisementinformation, an address indicating the storage location may be appendedto image/text data transmitted from an image data processing device 11of the user and having advertisement information appended thereto, andthe resulting image/text data may be stored in a data storage unit 25.Alternatively, image/text data transmitted from the image dataprocessing device 11 may be stored in the data storage unit 25, and whendistributing this image/text data, advertisement information may beappended to the image/text data and thus transmitted.

The flow of distribution of advertisement information in the informationdistribution system 2 as a specific example of the present inventionwill now be described with reference to FIG. 10.

First, the user prepares image/text data for distribution from desiredimage data and text data, using the image data processing device 11.FIG. 11 shows an exemplary GUI (graphical user interface) used as animage/text data preparation screen in the image data processing device11 in this case.

On the GUI shown in FIG. 11, a sender change button 31 for switching toan input screen for inputting and/or changing the sender, a displaysection 32 for displaying the destination of distribution, an inputsection 33 for inputting a message to be attached to image data, and animage display section 34 for carrying out image display and image changeare displayed. In addition to these, a distribution reservation section35 for designating distribution timing, for example, whether data shouldbe distributed right now or not, and a check box 36 for selecting adesired text from prepared template text options are displayed. The useredits image/text data which the user wants to distribute, on the GUIscreen shown in FIG. 11.

When the user connects to the server 12 and transmits authentication IDand password that have been issued to the user in advance, the server 12discriminates whether the user has been registered or not andauthenticates the user.

After confirming that the user has been registered, the server 12receives the image/text data, attaches advertisement information 90based on user information to a confirmation notification (hereinafterreferred to as result of transmission) to the effect that the image/textdata has been received, and transmits the result of transmission to theuser who sent the image/text data.

FIG. 12 shows a Web screen transmitted as the result of transmission. Inthe result of transmission 40, a notification 41 to the effect thatimage/text data has been deposited is displayed, and an advertisementimage 42, an advertisement image 43, an advertisement image 44, a textadvertisement with a check box 45, and a text advertisement 46 areattached thereto. The attached advertisement information in this case isbased on the user information. For example, the advertisementinformation includes advertisements of goods based on the gender and ageof the user, advertisements of peripheral equipments of the digitalimage pickup device 17 and the personal computer owned by the user, andadvertisements of goods based on the user's record of past purchase ofgoods.

In this case, the text advertisement with a check box 45 includes acheck box for designating to “send it to my friend, too”. If this checkbox is checked, a similar advertisement is attached to image/text datato be distributed to a recipient. In the information distribution system2, if a template text prepared by the provider is selected as in thecheck box 36 or the text advertisement with a check box 45,advertisement information of a content related to the template textselected in the check box can be efficiently transmitted to a recipient,interlocked with this item. Moreover, by providing advertisementinformation that can be selected in accordance with a recipient to whichthe user wants to distribute image/text data, as in the textadvertisement with a check box 45, information can be shared by the userand the distribution recipient.

When the latest image/text data is transmitted from the user, the server12 transmits a notification of image deposit including advertisementinformation 91 to the portable telephone unit 15 of the distributionrecipient, as shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 shows a deposit notification screen transmitted to the portabletelephone unit 15 of the recipient. On a deposit notification screen 50,a message 51 to the effect that image/text data has been deposited fromthe user, and an URL 52 for viewing image/text data saved in the server12 are displayed. Furthermore, a character advertisement 53 is attachedto the deposit notification screen 50. This URL is a URL attached by theaddress appending unit 24 shown in FIGS. 2 and 9 and indicating therecording position of the image/text data in the data storage unit 25.

Moreover, a URL 54 indicating a Web page showing a detailedadvertisement can be appended to the character advertisement 53. Thedistribution recipient can proceed to the Web page showing the detailedtext advertisement, by selecting the URL 54.

By operating the portable telephone unit 15 to select the URL 52, thedistribution recipient acquires the image/text data sent from the userusing the portable telephone unit 15, as a Web page. As shown in FIG.10, this Web page contains advertisement information 92.

FIG. 14 shows the Web page displayed in this case. On a Web page 60,image data 61 from the user 61, text data 62, and advertisementinformation 63 are displayed. In this case, the advertisementinformation 63 displayed on the Web page 60 is an advertisement based onthe user's checking of the check box designating to “send it to myfriend, too” on the result of transmission 40. However, it may alsoinclude other advertisement information.

In this manner, the information distribution system 2 can provide onlynecessary advertisement information for each individual by attachingadvertisement information based on user information. Therefore, theadvertising effect can be improved in comparison with distribution ofcertain advertisement information to many unspecified users.

In the information distribution system according to the presentinvention, as described above, when a user of the image datadistribution system distributes, for example, image data processed byusing a personal computer to a portable telephone unit, advertisementinformation is distributed to the user and the distribution recipient.However, the information distribution system can also be used as animage data distribution system which enables the user to access,retrieve, edit and retransmit image data from the user's portabletelephone unit, with respect to the history of image data transmitted bythe user using the image data processing device 11.

An information distribution system 3 as another specific example of thepresent invention has a user's portable telephone unit 70 in addition tothe system structure shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 15, and it ischaracterized in that image/text data can be edited from the portabletelephone unit 70 owned by the user. In the information distributionsystem 3 shown in FIG. 15, constituent elements having the samefunctions as those of the information distribution system 1 shown inFIG. 1 are denoted by the same numerals and will not be describedfurther in detail.

In the information distribution system 3, using an image datadistribution system that is made available by carrying out registrationfor use in advance, optimum advertisement information is distributed tothe registered user and a recipient to whom the user wants to send imagedata, on the basis of the content of registration for use. Theinformation distribution system 3 has the portable telephone unit 70,owned by the user, having a display unit for displaying an image dataand a communication function, an image data processing device 11 havingan image data processing function and a communication function, a server12 for storing image data transmitted from the image data processingdevice 11, and a portable telephone base station 13 connected with aportable telephone unit 15 through a portable telephone communicationnetwork 14. It is assumed that the portable telephone unit 70 owned bythe user is connected with a wire network 16 through a portabletelephone communication network, similarly to the portable telephoneunit 15. The wire network 16 is the so-called Internet.

The flow of information distribution in the above-described informationdistribution system 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and17.

The user connects to the server 12 by using the portable telephone unit70. The user first accesses an information distribution serviceprovision page, then selects a designated URL, and proceeds to the toppage of the information distribution service (step S51). FIG. 18 showsan exemplary Web page of the image data distribution service displayedin this case. The portable telephone unit 70 acquires a top page 101from the server 12.

By selecting “Display history” on the top page 10 (step S52), the usercan proceed to a registration authentication input display 102 of theimage data distribution service shown in FIG. 19. In the registrationauthentication input display 102, a message 103 asking the user to inputthe authentication ID and password, an authentication ID input section104, and a password input section 105 are displayed. Moreover, in theregistration authentication input display 102, a “Next” button 106 toproceed and a back button 107 to return to the top page 101 aredisplayed.

Communication between the portable telephone unit 70 and the server 12is secured by a function to encrypt texts to be transferred in atemplate style, for example, by a security technique such as SSL(Security Sockets Layer). Thus, the security of communication isrealized by mutually confirming the signature, cipher and the like ofthe recipient (portable telephone unit 70) before the server 12 sends atext of a format supporting terminal of the distribution destination.Therefore, in this specific example, if the response is from a machinethat does not support SSL, an error message as shown in FIG. 20 isdisplayed.

As entry in the authentication ID input section 104 and the passwordinput section 105 is carried out by the user (step S53) and theauthentication ID and password decided by the user's pressing the “Next”button 106 (step S54), the server 12 sends a deposited image listdisplay 108 to the user's portable telephone unit 70 (step S55). If theuser has not been registered to this service, the deposited image listdisplay 108 is not presented. Moreover, in some cases, the depositedimage list display 108 cannot be presented because of input errors inthe authentication ID and password. In such cases, error messages shownin FIGS. 21 and 22 are displayed and the processing returns to step S53.

FIG. 23 shows an exemplary deposited image display list. In thedeposited image list display 108, a list showing display contents suchas titles of image/text data that were distributed previously and abutton 109 to return to the top page 101 are displayed. If the userselects one display content from the list showing display contents suchas image/text data (step S56), the image/text data supporting theselected display content is displayed (step S57).

FIG. 24 shows an example of image/text data 110 selected by the user. Inthe image/text data 110, image data 111, text data 112, an edit button113 for editing these data, and selection buttons 114 for returning tothe top page 101 and the previous page are displayed. If the edit button113 is selected (step S58), an editing screen 115 shown in FIG. 25appears (step S59).

In the editing screen 115, the image data 111, a message 116 forexplaining operations, a title input section 117 for changing the titleof this image/text data, and a message input section 118 are displayed.The user inputs contents to be modified in the title input section 117and the message input section 118 by using the input part of theportable telephone unit 70, and selects a save button 119, therebychanging the title and message. In the editing screen 115, the user canalso carry out simple editing of image data.

In addition, in the editing screen 115, plural template texts areprepared as texts with check boxes 120. If the user selects one of thetexts with check boxes, the advertisement information appending unit 30of the sever 12 attaches advertisement information corresponding to thecontent of the text. Moreover, selection buttons 121 for returning tothe top page 101 and the deposited image list display 108 are displayedin the editing screen 115.

If “transmission destination of image” is selected from the selectionbuttons 114 with the image/text data 110 displayed at step S57, theprocessing goes to step S60 and a transmission destination list shown inFIG. 26 is displayed. As a transmission destination is confirmed at stepS61, the display returns to the image/text data 110. If the transmissiondestination has not been registered, the processing goes to step S62 anda transmission destination confirmation message shown in FIG. 27 isdisplayed. Then, the display returns to the image/text data 110.

As the editing of the image/text data selected from the temporarilystored image/text data is completed by the above-described operations,the server 12 attaches advertisement information 93 to a savingcompletion notification to the effect that the image has been deposited,and sends it to the user's portable telephone unit 70 (step S63), asshown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 28 shows an exemplary saving completion notification 122. In thesaving completion notification 122, a message 123 to the effect thatimage/text data has been deposited, and an input section 124 fordesignating a distribution destination of the saved image/text data aredisplayed. Moreover, advertisement information 125 extracted on thebasis of user information is attached. A URL 126 showing the details ofthe advertisement information 125 may be attached to the advertisementinformation 125. The advertisement information 125 is equivalent to theadvertisement information 93 of FIG. 16. The advertisement information125 in this case is advertisement information extracted on the basis ofthe user information acquired from the user at the time of registration,that is, on the basis of the authentication ID and password of the user.The advertisement information 125 is advertisement information extractedfrom information based on gender and age of the user, peripheralequipments of the portable telephone unit 70 owned by the user, and therecord of the user's purchase of goods in the past.

When selecting a distribution destination of the saved image/text data,the user can directly input the address of the distribution destinationin the input section 124 or can select a so-called “mail-to” functiondefined as a standard of general portable telephone units.

If the mail-to function is selected, the portable telephone unit will bein charge of controlling the subsequent input operation (step S64). Anaddress storage function and a mail text preparation screen of theportable telephone unit are made available. As the mail-to function isselected, a mail text preparation screen as shown in FIG. 29 isdisplayed. That is, the control is shifted to the mail function of theportable telephone unit 70. In this case, in a mail preparation screen125 shown in FIG. 29, a URL 126 indicating a new saving location of theedited image/text data is given and displayed. After that, the URL ofthe image/text data saved in the server 12 is transmitted to thedistribution recipient by the ordinary mail function.

On the other hand, if the address of the distribution destination isdirectly inputted to the input section 124, a page having the screenstructure shown in FIG. 13 is transmitted to the distribution recipient.In this case, advertisement information 94 can be attached, as shown inFIG. 16.

The distribution recipient can view the image/text data from the user,by selecting the URL transmitted thereto. Advertisement information 95is attached to the image/text data acquired by the distributionrecipient, as shown in FIG. 16. In this case, image/text data similar tothat of FIG. 14 is sent to the distribution recipient.

In the case of an information processing terminal such as a personalcomputer, the user browse other displays while opening the Web page, bycarrying out display operations such as changing the size of the displaywindow or changing the location of the display window. However, in thecase of an information processing terminal with a small display screenas in a portable telephone unit or an information processing terminalwith poor display functions, the user must temporarily close the displaywindow to view other displays.

For a user who has registered destination address such as e-mailaddresses or the like to the address function of the portable telephoneunit, an operation to input an address on a Web page is complicated.

In the information distribution system 3, the mail to functions enablesdisplay of a URL indicating the saving location of image/text data inthe server 12, in the ordinary mail preparation screen 125 of theportable telephone unit. Therefore, the address book provided as afunction of the portable telephone unit can be used at the same time.The information distribution system according to the present inventioncan be suitably applied to an information processing terminal with asmall display screen and an information processing terminal with poordisplay functions as well as a portable telephone unit.

With the information distribution system 3 to which the presentinvention is applied, it is possible to browse image/text data saved inthe server 12, then edit and retransmit the image/text data, by using aportable telephone unit having no function to edit image/text data of aWeb page or the like.

In the above-described top page 101, not only “display history” but also“explain functions”, “confirm supporting machine type (SSLconfirmation)” and “cancel registration” can be selected. The processingin the case where these are selected will be described hereinafter.

If “explain functions” is selected in the top page 101 shown in FIG. 18,the processing shown in FIG. 30 is carried out. That is, when “explainfunctions” is selected (step S71), a function explanation screen isdisplayed (step S72) and the display can return to the top page 101 by areturn operation.

If “confirm supporting machine type.” is selected in the top page 101shown in FIG. 18 (step S81), the processing shown in FIG. 31 is carriedout. If the machine type of the user's portable telephone unit 70supports SSL, a message to the effect that the machine type supports SSLis displayed at step S82. If the machine type does not support SSL, theerror message shown in FIG. 20 is displayed at step S83.

If “cancel registration” is selected, the processing shown in FIG. 32 iscarried out. When “cancel registration” is selected (step S91), ifregistration has not been made, the message shown in FIG. 21 isdisplayed at step S92. If registration has been made, the user isprompted to input the authentication ID and password at step S93.

When the authentication ID and password are inputted, the authenticationID and password are confirmed at step S94. In the case of an inputerror, the error message shown in FIG. 22 is displayed at step S95. Ifno registration has been made, a message shown in FIG. 33 to the effectthat no registration has been made is displayed at step S96. As theauthentication ID and password are confirmed, cancellation ofregistration is confirmed at step S97 and cancellation of registrationis completed at step S98.

It is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to theabove-described embodiments. As a matter of course, variousmodifications can be made without departing from the scope of thepresent invention. The portable communication terminal in the presentinvention may be any portable communication terminal having a dataprocessing function and a communication function, such as a PDA(personal digital assistant) and a portable personal computer, and isnot limited to a portable telephone unit. The screen displays used inthe above description are examples and the displaying manner is notlimited.

Even in the case of communication between general information processingterminals, by editing Web data temporarily uploaded to the server andsaving a new Web page after editing, the server can transmit a commandto start the mail to function using the URL of the Web page as anargument, to the information processing terminal.

As described above, also in the information distribution system 3 shownin FIG. 15, the advertisement effect can be improved more by attachingadvertisement information based on user information, than bydistributing unnecessary advertisement information to many unspecifiedusers.

In addition to advertisement information based on user information asdescribed above, advertisement information may be attached in accordancewith keywords extracted from information transmitted and receivedbetween the user and the distribution recipient.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

An information distribution system according to the present inventioncomprises: an image data processing terminal having display means fordisplaying image data, and image data transmission means fortransmitting the image data to outside; an information providing devicehaving image data saving means for saving the image data, and addressinformation appending means for appending to the image data adestination address for referring to the image data from outside; and aportable radio communication terminal having image data acquisitionmeans for acquiring the image data with the destination address appendedthereto, and display means for displaying the image data; theinformation distribution system having an image data distributionfunction: for distributing the image data from the image data processingterminal to the portable communication terminal; wherein connection fromthe image data processing terminal is identified using identificationinformation issued at the time of registration, and optimum contentinformation is extracted from content information storage means on thebasis of user information stored in storage means for storing theidentification information and user information corresponding to theidentification information and is attached to the image data, which isthen transmitted.

With the information distribution system according to the presentinvention, useful content information for each user can be distributedand specified information can be shared by users. Therefore, more usefulcontent information can be distributed on the basis of the informationbetween the users

An information distribution system according to the present inventioncomprises: a first information processing terminal having datatransmission/reception means for transmitting and receiving data; aninformation providing device having data saving means for saving thedata, and address information appending means for appending to the dataa destination address for referring to the data from outside; and asecond information processing terminal having data acquisition means foracquiring the data with the destination address appended thereto, anddisplay means for displaying the data; the information distributionsystem having an image data distribution function for distributing thedata from the first information processing terminal to the secondinformation processing terminal; wherein optimum content information isextracted from content information storage means on the basis of thecontent of information transmitted and received between individual usersand is attached to the image data, which is then transmitted.

With the information distribution system according to the presentinvention, unnecessary content distribution is reduced and usefulcontent information for each user can be distributed. Specifiedinformation can be shared by users and content: information can beexchanged between users. Therefore, more useful content information canbe distributed.

An information distribution method according to the present inventioncomprises: a display step of displaying image data at an image dataprocessing terminal; an image data transmission step of transmitting theimage data to outside; an information providing step including an imagedata saving step of saving the image data, and an address informationappending step of appending to the image data a destination address forreferring to the image data from outside; an image data acquisition stepof acquiring the image data with the destination address appendedthereto at a portable radio communication terminal; and a display stepof displaying the image data; the information distribution method havingan image data distribution function for distributing the image data fromthe image data processing terminal to the portable communicationterminal; wherein connection from the image data processing terminal isidentified using identification information issued at the time ofregistration, and at a content information providing step, optimumcontent information is extracted on the basis of user information storedin storage means for storing the identification information and userinformation corresponding to the identification information and isattached to the image data, which is then transmitted.

With the information distribution method according to the presentinvention, unnecessary content distribution is reduced and usefulcontent information for each user can be distributed. Specifiedinformation can be shared by users and content information can beexchanged between users. Therefore, more useful content information canbe distributed.

An information distribution method according to the present inventioncomprises: a data transmission/reception step of transmitting data at afirst information processing terminal; an information providing stepincluding a data saving step of saving the data, and an addressinformation appending step of appending to the data a destinationaddress for referring to the data from outside; and a data acquisitionstep of acquiring the data with the destination address appended theretoand a display step of displaying the data at a second informationprocessing terminal; the information distribution method having an imagedata distribution function for distributing the data from the firstinformation processing terminal to the second information processingterminal; wherein optimum content information is extracted from contentinformation storage means on the basis of the content of informationtransmitted and received between individual users and is attached to theimage data, which is then transmitted.

With the information distribution method according to the presentinvention, unnecessary content distribution is reduced and usefulcontent information for each user can be distributed. Specifiedinformation can be shared by users and content information can beexchanged between users. Therefore, more useful content information canbe distributed.

An information providing device according to the present inventioncomprises: image data transmission/reception means for transmitting andreceiving image data from an image data processing terminal through anetwork; image data saving means for saving the received image data;address information appending means for appending to the image data adestination address for referring to the image data from the outside;storage means for storing user information; content information storingmeans for storing content information; and content information attachingmeans for attaching the content information to the image data on thebasis of the user information; wherein content information selected onthe basis of user information identifying the user is transmitted to theuser.

In such an information providing device, connection from the image dataprocessing terminal is identified using identification informationissued at the time of registration, and optimum content information isextracted on the basis of the user information stored in the storagemeans for storing the identification information and the userinformation corresponding to the identification information and isattached to the image data, which is then transmitted.

Therefore, with the information providing device according to thepresent invention, unnecessary content distribution is reduced anduseful content information for each user can be distributed. Specifiedinformation can be shared by users and content information can beexchanged between users. Therefore, more useful content information canbe distributed.

An information providing method according to the present inventioncomprises: an image data transmission/reception step of transmitting andreceiving image data from an image data processing terminal through anetwork; an image data saving step of saving the received image data; anaddress information appending step of appending to the image data adestination address for referring to the image data from outside; astorage step of storing user information; and a content informationattaching step of attaching content information to the image data on thebasis of the user information; wherein content information selected onthe basis of user information identifying the user is transmitted to theuser.

In such an information providing method, connection from the image dataprocessing terminal is identified using identification informationissued at the time of registration, and optimum content information isextracted on the basis of the user information stored in storage meansfor storing the identification information and the user informationcorresponding to the identification information and is attached to theimage data, which is then transmitted.

Therefore, with the information providing method according to thepresent invention, unnecessary content distribution is reduced anduseful content information for each user can be distributed. Specifiedinformation can be shared by users and content information can beexchanged between users. Therefore, more useful content information canbe distributed.

1-13. (canceled)
 14. An information distribution system comprising: afirst information processing terminal having data transmission/receptionmeans for transmitting and receiving data; an information providingdevice for discriminating information and appending content informationthereto; and a second information processing terminal having dataacquisition means for acquiring the data with destination addressappended thereto, and display means for displaying said data; saidinformation distribution system having an image data distributionfunction for distributing the data from said first informationprocessing terminal to said second information processing terminal;wherein content information is transmitted in accordance with thecontent of information transmitted and received between individualusers.
 15. The information distribution system as claimed in claim 14,wherein content information is attached to the data transmitted fromsaid first information processing terminal to said second informationprocessing terminal and is thus transmitted.
 16. The informationdistribution system as claimed in claim 14, wherein said data comprisesimage data and text data.
 17. The information distribution system asclaimed in claim 16, wherein said text data contains text data withoptions, and content information attaching means attaches contentinformation to image data in accordance with a selected text. 18-29.(canceled)
 30. An information distribution method comprising:transmitting data at a first information processing terminal; providinginformation, wherein information is discriminated and contentinformation is appended thereto; and acquiring the data with destinationaddress appended thereto at a second information processing terminal;and displaying said data; said information distribution method utilizingan image data distribution method for distributing the data from saidfirst information processing terminal to said second informationprocessing terminal; wherein content information is transmitted inaccordance with the content of information transmitted and receivedbetween individual users.
 31. The information distribution method asclaimed in claim 30, wherein content information is attached to the datatransmitted from said first information processing terminal to saidsecond information processing terminal and is thus transmitted.
 32. Theinformation distribution method as claimed in claim 30, wherein saiddata comprised image data and text data.
 33. The informationdistribution method as claimed in claim 30, wherein said text datacontains text data with options, and content information is attached tosaid image data in accordance with a selected text. 34-55. (canceled)